Excavator Responsibility
Whether you are a professional Excavator, Contractor, Engineer or Handyman, you play an important role keeping Alaskans safe with EVERY dig. Alaska State law requires that locates are requested before beginning any excavation. There are no exemptions from the requirement to get locates in Alaska.
What You Need to Know
Excavators throughout the State of Alaska are responsible for notifying utilities or their 811 Alaska representative of their proposed excavations enabling owners of underground facilities near the excavation site an opportunity to protect their facilities and the general public from harm.
Gather the information for your excavation site prior to submitting a locate ticket. You will be required to give accurate address information and detailed directions to the excavation site in addition to a description of where on the property the excavation will take place so utilities can sufficiently mark the dig site. Please delineate the area of excavation in white paint — this leaves little doubt as to where you will be digging.
Call a minimum of 2-14 working days prior to excavation. Given the volatile Alaskan weather, ADI recommends you call not more than 7 working days* prior to excavation.
*Remote or un-staffed areas require a minimum of 10 working days notice.
Download: Excavator Handbook
When your locate ticket is complete, you will be given a ticket number and a list of members with underground facilities near your excavation site. ADI recommends you record your ticket number for future reference.
By law, you must wait two full business days (10 business days for remote or un-staffed locations) for members to do one of the following:
- Physically locate and mark the horizontal location of underground facilities within your excavation site. Note: This does not include the vertical depth of the underground facility.
- Contact you to schedule a new locate for a time that is mutually agreeable and will not unreasonably delay your work.
- If after the required time, the member(s) has not contacted you or located the underground facility, contact ADI immediately and a customer service agent will assist you.
Some 811 Member facility owners supply real time status updates as your dig location is marked or cleared. You can check your ticket status online . It is the excavator’s responsibility to maintain the marks. Utilities may charge for Relocates caused by the excavator’s failure to do so.
If you come in contact with an underground facility during excavation, even if there is no noticeable damage you must stop excavation and contact the owner of the underground facility directly.
